John Ballow has earned the ICCM title and will
receive his certificate and medal at the 2012 ICCF Congress. John made his norms at the
Chessfriends Rochade scoring 9-4 with one game remaining and in the 2010
Interzonal playing on Board 4 where his present score of 5-4 leads the pack.

QUEEN'S
GAMBIT DECLINED (D37)

1.Nf3
Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.d4 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 Nbd7 7.c5White
sets the terms of the battle right in the opening. Will White's gain of space on the
queenside set the standard of play or will Black be able to find center or
kingside play to offset White's space grab?7...c6
8.h3 b6 9.b4 a5 10.a3 Ne4This
has to be correct to drum up play, but Back's Pawn structure is damaged.11.Nxe4
dxe4 12.Ne5 Nxe5 13.Bxe5 b5
This attempt to shut down the queenside actually
results in a wider field of battle there. Better was 13...Qd5 and ...Ba6 to keep
some tension in the position.14.a4!f6 15.Bg3 Bd7
16.Be2 axb4 17.0-0!Another
alert play and now White is ready for complete mobilization while Black's
queenside Pawns fall.17...Qa5
18.axb5 Qxa1 19.Qxa1 Rxa1 20.Rxa1 cxb5 21.Rb1 Ra8 22.Rxb4 Ra1+ 23.Kh2 Ra5
24.Bc7 Ra7 25.Bb6 Ra2 26.Bxb5 Bxb5 27.Rxb5 Rxf2 28.Kg3White's
King centralizes strongly after which the c-Pawn has an extra escort.28...Re2
29.Kf4 f5 30.Ke5 Kf7 31.Ba5 1-0Hopeless
is 31...Rxe3 32.Rb7 Ke8 33.Kxe6

It is that time again, or will be shortly. I will be needing thirteen strong players
to play in the 2012 Absolute. This
is (or should be) a computer-free tournament. Please send in your bids to
play. There is no entry
fee. The top thirteen rated CC players applying will be selected.

US POSTAL RATES TO GO UP

January 22, 2012, the US postal rates will increase. A first class stamp will go up a penny
to 45 cents while the post card will increase three cents to 32 cents. Also increasing will be international
letters, packages and periodicals.

2011 Colorado Correspondence Chmpshp

Kovats first, Lahti and Johnson second and
third. For the report on
the Kovats win, see the August 2011 The Check Is in the Mail.

Second place finisher Lee Lahti shows his
technique in winning this King and Pawner, not giving Lasley the opportunity to
show the attacking potential of the Budapest Defense.

Ralph William of Columbus Georgia, born October 31, 1927, died on
3 June, 2010. Ralph
played frequently in the trophy quads.

SEMI-ITALIAN OPENING (C50)

Quote: ...in the age of chess software, email, and
chess websites, correspondence chess [postal] could be on its way out -- Jon
Edwards

REUBEN FINE POSTAL PLAYER

In the NovemberChess LifeNeil Brennan's article on "A Game with
Considerable Ego Involvement" reported that Reuben Fine was "not a
correspondence player". Sorry, Neil, Reuben played dozens of
correspondence chess games back in the Thirties and Forties, even at the peak
of his OTB career. Here is
Reuben illustrating some sharp tactics:

QUEEN'S
GAMBIT ACCEPTED (D21)

CLASSIFIED ADS

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- many different ways. I
specialize in players rated 800-2100 who would like to improve their
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White's
Queen Rook loses no time in hurrying to the kingside.ALAPIN
VARIATION (A50)

Sigmund Malek comes up with an original opening
trap in this gamelet.

SICILIAN
DEFENSE (B23)

Black
finds his King has unwanted wings...MORRA
GAMBIT (B21)

White's Rook on a1 is curiously helpless.

FRENCH
DEFENSE (C02)

White shows that the Morra still has some very
sharp teeth.

MORRA
GAMBIT (B21)

From an
oldChess Reviewcomes this defeat of young Grandmaster-to-be
Robert Byrne. The
tournament was a 1943 Victory Tournament, a precursor of the Golden Knights.Black cedes rather than face destruction after
14...fxe6 15. Qh5+

SICILIAN
DEFENSE (B90)

The
Dragon was designed for aggressive Black players. James Sawaski shows why.

SICILIAN
DEFENSE (B )

Black
is French fried in this quickie.

FRENCH
DEFENSE (C14)

Black
forgets that recaptures are not obligatory and falls into the classic Bishop
sacrifice on h7.

ALEKHINE'S
DEFENSE (B03)

Black's
Queen is striking in this miniature from nearly sixty years ago.ALEKHINE'S
DEFENSE (B02)